No balloons: Difference between revisions

{{a|devil|[[File:noballoons.jpeg|450px|center|Sorry, but that ''doesn't'' work for me, Network Rail.|thumb]]}}It is pleasing to imagine the sequence of events that led to the erection, of Liverpool Lime Street station, of the following sign:  

Now there are many things you can imagine the proprietor of a busy rail terminus might not like brought into the premises. Some it might feel strongly about: Snakes, for example. Crocodiles. Explosives. Undomesticated grazing livestock. But no mention is made of these. Then there are article which, while posing no immediate danger to life and limb, could be disruptive enough to the orderly functioning of the station. If these were frequently encountered, they might justify a mention. Megaphones. Boomerangs. Stink-bombs. Footballs, even. But there are no mention of these. Yet somehow the humble balloon — hardly the sort of thing to warrant even a mild aversion, surely — has earned its own special category of turpitude. What can have happened? Was the fat controller one day plagued by mendacious Liverpudlian urchins, popping their balloons in his ear, and decided to get his own back? Has it helped? In his limited experience, mendacious Liverpudlian urchins are not disposed to paying much attention to signs of this sort in any case. It only encourages them.